Howrah District, 1908
This article has been extracted from THE IMPERIAL GAZETTEER OF INDIA , 1908. OXFORD, AT THE CLARENDON PRESS. |
Note: National, provincial and district boundaries have changed considerably since 1908. Typically, old states, ‘divisions’ and districts have been broken into smaller units, and many tahsils upgraded to districts. Some units have since been renamed. Therefore, this article is being posted mainly for its historical value.
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Howrah District
{Habara). — Small District in the Burdwan Division of Bengal, lying between 22° 13' and 22° 47' N. and 87° 51' and 88° 22' E., with an area of 510 square miles. Howrah, which is a separate magisterial charge, is for revenue purposes sub- ordinate to HooGHLV District, by which it is bounded on the north ; its western and eastern boundaries are the Rupnarayan and the Hooghly rivers, which separate it from Midnapore and the Twenty- four Parganas and meet at its southern angle.
Physical aspects
The District is intersected from north to south by the Damodar, whicli falls into the Hooghly o[jposite Falta Point. There are many small streams and watercourses, the principal being asDects ^^^ Kana Damodar, a tributary of the river of that name, which rises near Tarakeswar in Hooghly Dis- trict, and falls into the Damodar at Amta ; the Saraswati, at one time the main channel of the Ganges but now merely a branch of the Hooghly, which it leaves near Tribeni and, after flowing southwards through Howrah, rejoins at Sankrail ; and the Gaighata Bakshi Khal, which connects the Rupnarayan and Damodar. The District is studded with depressions lying between the larger rivers, the most important being the Rajapur marsh between the Hooghly and Damodar, which is now being gradually drained ; towards the south the country lies so low as to recjuire protection by costly Government and private embankments.
The surface is covered with alluvium, consisting chiell}' of sandy clay and sand.The vegetation is composed almost exclusively of the acjuatic and marsh plants to be met with in rice-fields, such as Hydrilla^ Ufri- cularia, Caesulia, or of those semi-spontaneous plants that form the village shrubberies of Central Bengal, such as Glycosinis, Trema, Urena, Solanuin, Datura, Leonotis^ and the like. Waste places are generally covered with a weedy vegetation ; and one of the striking features is the extent to which such weeds as occur in these places are exotic so far as Bengal is concerned, many of them, such as Scoparia, Ageratum, Evolvulus mininmlarius^ and Peperomia pei/ucida, being originally natives of America. Wild hog abound in the south, and a stray leopard is occasionally seen. Humidity is high but the rainfall is rarely excessive, the average yearly total being 57 inches, of which 5-5 inches fall in May, 10-2 in June, 12 in July, 12-3 in August, and 8-i in September. The climate resembles that of Calcutta and the Twenty-four Parganas ; separate statistics of temperature are not available.
The District is subject to floods, owing to the sudden rising of the Damodar and Rupnarayan rivers ; and destructive inundations occurred in 1823, 1833, and 1864. Embankments were formerly maintained along both banks of the Damodar ; but they were breached almost every year, and those along the right bank were eventually abandoned in order to preserve those on the left bank of the river. In September, 1900, an abnormal rainfall of 24 inches in 48 hours caused extensive floods. Many cattle were drowned, and hundreds of houses destroyed, and the rice crop was ruined over an area of 150 square miles. Destruc- tive cyclones occurred in 1832, 1833, 1842, and 1864, the last wrecking several vessels on the Hooghly. The great earthquake of 1897 caused much damage to brick-built houses in Howrah city.
History
Howrah, with the rest of the Burdwan Division and the District of Birbhum, formed i)art of the old Hindu province of Bengal known as Rarh, but very little authentic information exists regarding its early history. The neighbourhood of Howrah city has long been a centre of European trade. AMien the Portuguese began to frequent the Hooghly river, about 1530, an important mart sprang up at Betor, cU^se to Sib[)ur, where goods were transhipped from their vessels into small boats in which they were carried to Satgaon, near the modern town of Hooghly. Ik-lor was abandoned towards the end of the sixteenth century in favour of Sutanuti, the site of the modern Calcutta. In 1687 Job Charncjck settled temporarily at Ulubaria before he founded Calcutta. In 1819 Hooghly and Howrah were separated from Burdwan, of which they had previousl)' formed part, and made into a separate District. Howrah is still an apanage of Hooghly for revenue purposes, but in 1843 it was constituted a separate magisterial charge.
The population increased from 635,878 in 1872 to 675,394 in 1881, to 763,625 in 1891, and to 850,514 in 1901. Malaria is prevalent in rural areas owing to the bad drainage, and the mor- tality from cholera, dysentery, and diarrhoea is also high. Details of the poi)ulation in 1901 for each subdivision are shown below : —
Note. — Ulubaria town lias been created a municipality since the Census of 1901.
In 1 901 a fifth of the population was urban, dwelling in the two towns of Howrah and Bally, which are industrial suburbs of Cal- cutta. In the whole District there are i,668 persons to the square mile; excluding Howrah and Bally the density is 1,351, which is still greater than that of any other District in Bengal. Nearly half the increase in the decade ending 1901 was due to the exceptional expansion of Howrah Cnv. Howrah gains largely by immigration from all the neighbouring Districts, except Calcutta, and also from the United Provinces and Bihar. Most of these immigrants are attracted by the mills, iron-works, and other industries in Howrah city, and barely a third of the inhabitants of this busy manufacturing centre are District born. The local vernacular is the dialect of Central Bengal. Hindus number 672,544, or 79 per cent, of the total, and Muhammadans 175,123, or 20-6 per cent.; among the remainder are 2,588 Christians.
Nearly all the Muhaumiadans are Shaikhs, while Kaibarttas (231,000), the great race-caste of Midnapore, constitute more than two-thirds of the Hindus. Brahmans (52,000) and the semi-aborigi- nal Bagdis (73,000) are also numerous. Of the total p()i)ulation, 42 per cent, are supported by agriculture, 26 per cent, by industries, 2-3 per cent, by commerce, and 3-7 per cent, by the [)r()fessions. The propor- tion of agriculturists is lower, and that of the industrial population higher, than in any District outside Calcutta, many of the people, even in the rural areas, going daily to work in the metropolis.
The majority of the Christians are Europeans and Eurasians employed in Howrah city; and in lyoi native Christians numbered 0"ly 579- The Church of England Zanana Mission maintains three girls' schools in Howrah attended by 327 pupils, and a Baptist Mission and a branch of the Oxford University Mission also work there. The Church Missionary Society supports a resident missionary for evangel- istic work among the Hindi-speaking population. A small American Mission belonging to a community calling itself 'The Church of God' is established in Ulubaria.
Agriculture
The agricultural statistics for 1903-4 are shown below, in square miles :—
Owing to the silt deposited by the rivers, the soil is very fertile. The staple product is rice, the winter crop being by far the most important, but wheat, barley, maize, mustard, jute, and hemp are also grown. Fodder is abundant, though there are few regular pasture-grounds. A market held at Ulubaria every Saturday is largely frequented by dealers in cattle and poultry. Six fairs are held to which agricultural produce is brought for sale, the chief being the Ram Krishna Param- hansa me/a. The District is not liable to famine, and the people as a whole are so well off that there is no need for advances under the Loans Acts, except when the crops are damaged by floods.
The Howrah, Rajapur, and Barajala drainage schemes described below serve also for irrigation purposes in years of drought, when water is let in from the rivers. Some lands on the banks of the Kana Damodar are occasionally watered from the Eden Canal.
Trade and communications
Domestic industries are few and unimportant. Hand-made paper of an inferior quality is produced on a small scale in the Amta fha?ia. Silkworms are still reared in some i)arts, the thread being taken to Calcutta and Ohatal for sale; but the communications, industry is dying out, the annual value of the silk being estimated at only Rs. 12,500. Earthenware articles arc made throughout the District, and the pottery of Sankrail, Patihal Chandi- pur, and Bally has a local repute, the annual out-turn being valued at Rs. 1,17,030. Tiles are made at Barrackpur in the Bally thaiia.
But, if hf)me industries are insignificant, the case is far otherwise with industries dependent on European methods and worked with P^uropean capital. The bank of the Hooghly is lined with no less than 56 factories, employing 51,000 hands. These include 6 cotton- mills, 9 jute-mills, 7 jute-presses, 2 paper-mills, 3 flour-mills, 5 rail-
VOL. XIII. 1' way workshops, 4 engineering workshops, 4 iron-works, 4 rope-works, 4 dockyards, 2 salt-crushing mills, a printing press, lime-works, and cement-works. In 1903-4 the cotton-mills contained 176, 100 spindles, employed 4,400 hands, and turned out 18,000,000 lb. of goods valued at 56 lakhs. The jute-mills with 84,000 spindles and 4,060 looms employed 27,000 hands, and manufactured goods to the value of 251 lakhs. The paper-mills at Bally produced paper worth i3-| lakhs. In addition to the larger iron-works mentioned above, 16 small firms managed by native agency purchase pig-iron and scrap-iron in Calcutta, and manufacture weights, sugar-cane presses, rollers, bolts, plant for oil- and jute-mills, building and carriage material, railings, iron safes, &c., the out-turn being valued in 1901 at 1-39 lakhs. Bricks are extensively manufactured along the right bank of the Hooghly and the Bally Khal, where 91 brick-fields employ 2,660 hands and produce an out-turn valued at nearly 4 lakhs. About a third of the brick-fields are worked by native methods, but the use of pug-mills and Bull's patent kilns is spreading.
For commercial purposes the District forms part of Calcutta. Howrah city is the terminus of the East Indian and Bengal-Nagpur Railways, which connect Calcutta with Upper India, with Bombay, and with Nagpur and Madras. The chief articles of export are rice, vegetables, betel-leaf, sugar-cane, wheat, flour, coco-nuts, hukkas, hides, cotton cloth, cotton twist, silk, bricks, and ropes. The chief imports are rice, wheat, pulses, oilseeds, European piece-goods, kerosene oil, jute, hemp, g/il, sugar, spices, cotton, cotton twist and yarn, wine and other liquors, salt, tobacco, timber, iron, straw, potatoes, shoes, and glass. The chief centres of trade are Howrah City, Bally, Ghusuri, Salkhl^, Sankrail, Ulubaria, and Amta.
Besides the two great railways mentioned above, the Howrah- Sheakhala and Howrah-Amta Light Railways have opened out tracts in the north and north-west which were formerly diflficult of access. An extension of the Amta line from Jagatballabhpur to Champadanga has been sanctioned. The grand trunk road leading north from Sibpur, and the Orissa trunk road, which in this District runs from Ulubaria to the Riipnarayan river, are maintained from Provincial funds, their aggregate length in the District being 25 miles. Exclusive of these and of the roads within Howrah and Bally municipalities, the District contains 117 miles of road, of which 35 are metalled, and 441 miles of village tracks.
Before the opening of the Cuttack branch of the Bengal-Nagpur Railway, the Midnavore Canal formed the main route between Calcutta and Midnapore. The first two reaches of this canal, running westwards from Ulubaria on the Hooghly to the Damodar and thence to the Riipnarayan, lie within the District. The two latter rivers are also connected by the (laii^hata liakshi Khal, an imprcjved natural waterway. Other navigable channels are the Bally Khal, which runs from the Dankuni marsh into the Hooghly at Bally and forms the main outfall of the Dankuni drainage, and the Sankrail, Kalsapa, Mithakunda, and Pukuria Khals. Inland navigation is carried on in small country boats ; and daily steamer services connect Calcutta with Rajganj, Ulubaria, Ghatal (via Ulubaria), and Kalna (via Bally and Uttarpara), all of which serve places within the Dis- trict.
Administration
It has already been mentioned that Howrah, when made a separate magisterial charge, continued for revenue purposes to form part of Hooghly. Land revenue and cesses are still paid there ; but the Magistrate of Howrah has been appointed a Deputy-Collector and declared independent of Hooghly with regard to excise, land acquisition, salt, income-tax, treasury, and stamps. He is assisted by a staff of one Joint-Magistrate and three or four Deputy-Magistrate-Collectors, while another Deputy-Collector, assisted by a Sub-Deputy, is in charge of the Ulubaria subdivision. Howrah city is the head-quarters of an Assistant Inspector-General of railway police.
The administration of civil justice is controlled by the District Judge of Hooghly. The District shares with Hooghly a Small Cause Court Judge, assisted by a Registrar, for the disposal of petty money claims, and there are five Munsifs, of whom three are stationed in Howrah city, and one each at Amta and Ulubaria. Sessions cases are tried by the Additional Judge of the Twenty-four Parganas. Howrah, with its large labour force and fluctuating population, is a convenient centre for criminals ; and it is largely frequented by professional thieves from up-country.
The approximate rent paid by the actual cultivator to his immediate landlord is Rs. 13 per acre for rice lands, Rs. 26 for sugar-cane fields, Rs. 22 for jute lands, and Rs. 16 for autumn rice lands. The land revenue and cess accounts are included in those of Hooghly District, and it is only in recent years that those for revenue from other .sources were made separate. The latter amounted to Rs. 4,06,000 in 1901-2 and to Rs. 4,62,000 in 1903-4.
Outside the municipal towns of Howrah, Bai.lv, and Ui.uijaria, local affairs are managed by a District board, with subordinate local boards at Howrah and Ulubaria. In 1903-4 the income of the District board was Rs. 1,13,000, of which Rs. 39,000 was derived from rates ; and the expenditure was Rs. 1,04,000, half of which was spent on public works. The Howrah District board was the pioneer in intro- ducing light railways in Bengal ; the railways from Howrah to Amta and to Sheakhala were constructed under a guarantee of 4 per cent. interest on the capital, the hoard rcrcivinu half of any profits earned in excess of this amount. The board has ])rofited handsomely by the former railway.
llie embankments along the Damodar and on the south bank of the Gaighata Bakshi Khal have a total length of 37 miles, and there are 6 miles of takdvi embankment on the left bank of the Madaria Khal. Large areas have been drained by the Rajapur, Howrah, and Barajala drainage schemes, the works consisting of drainage channels with sluices leading into the Hooghly. These serve also as a protection against drought, as they afford a means of irrigation in years of deficient rainfall. The Hooghly is spanned by a pontoon bridge, which is described in the article on Calcutta, and the Damodar and Rup- narayan have been bridged near their mouths by the Bengal-Nagpur Railway. At Sibpur are situated the Botanical Gardens, which are beautifully laid out along the Hooghly and are stocked with both ornamental and useful plants. They were founded in 1788, at the instance of Colonel Alexander Kyd, for the collection of plants indigenous to the country, and for the introduction and acclimatization of foreign species. This object has been fully realized, and the gardens are a centre of botanic science for all India. They cover 272 acres and contain a fine herbarium, a botanical library, and monuments to the first two Superintendents, Kyd and Roxburgh.
The District contains 18 police stations and 14 outposts. The police force subordinate to the District Superintendent in 1903 (including extra police) consisted of 5 inspectors, 25 sub-inspectors, 47 head constables, and 688 constables ; there was also a rural police force of 132 daffadars and 1,374 chaukiddrs. There was one policeman to every o-8 square mile of area and to every 1,431 persons. Sub- sidiary jails at Howrah city and Ulubaria have an aggregate accom- modation for 61 prisoners.
In 1901 the proportion of literate persons was ii'5 per cent. (21-2 males and 1-2 females), the proportion for males being exceeded in Bengal only in the case of Calcutta. The total number of pupils under instruction was 33,200 in 1892-3 and 33,464 in 1900-1. In 1903-4, 39,301 boys and 2,331 girls were at school, being respectively 59-6 and 3-7 per cent, of the children of school-going age. The number of educational institutions, public and private, in 1903 was 940, including 58 secondary, 829 primary, and 53 special schools. The expenditure on education was 3-62 lakhs, of which 1-48 lakhs was contributed by Government, Rs. 24,000 by the District board, and Rs. 6,000 by municipalities, while 1-58 lakhs was derived from fees. The principal educational institution is the Civil Engineering College at Sibpur.
In 1903, excluding the General Hospital in Howrah city, the District contained 5 dispensaries, of which 2 had accomnKjdation for 9 in- patients; the cases of 25,000 out-patients and 169 in-patients were treated, and 1,583 operations were performed. The expenditure was Rs. 9,000, of which Rs. 200 was met from Government contributions, Rs. 3,000 from Local and Rs. 1,300 from municipal funds, and Rs. 4,000 from subscriptions.
Vaccination is compulsory only within the municipal areas. Else- where vaccination is backward, and the number of successful vaccina- tions in 1903-4 was only 21,500, or 25 per 1,000 of the population.
[Sir W. VV. Hunter, Statistical Account of Bengal^ vol. iii (1876) and C. N. Banerjee, Account of Hozvrah, Past and Present (Calcutta, 1872).]
